Here come the updates....

As you have probably read, yes I have launched. A lot of things happened between my Part 1 post and launching as you can imagine. I was busy getting things done and with work and life stuff, the blog fell by the wayside. I know all 5 of you have been patiently awaiting updates so here is the first of a few I intend to get done. Reason I have time today is that I took the afternoon off from work as the forecast looked pretty good, but the wind has yet to even think about showing up. So here is the start o/f the updates.....

Project #1, Part – 2

So I got all the demolition done inside the boat, everything taken out and pieces that could be kept for templates kept. The remainder of the demolition was interesting to say the least. How someone could look someone else in the eye and say there were no issues is beyond me. The lower part of the port bulkhead I dug out with my hand, literally. Look at the picture, it came out like dirt. Nice eh? Anyway, I got most of it out in one piece and got the starboard bulkhead out relatively easily. 

 

As I was taking the head sink vanity apart the sink drain’s plastic thru-hull promptly snapped off and that lead me to placing another small order with the fine folks at Defender Marine. Got a stainless one and some “Life-Caulk” polysulfide caulk for the installation. What’s another thing to fix right?

So after I got everything out of the boat I set up inside my garage to prep the plywood. I applied a few coats of Smith’s CPES, Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer, to both sides of the plywood. I let each coat cure for about 48 hours before doing it again. I then laminated the mahogany veneer to one side and let that set up for a day. I did not veneer the entire sheet as I did not want to waste any of the veneer. I know have about 4 or 5 feet left in two pieces for other projects. After the veneer I painted the other side the color I bought for the interior of the head area. It was an exterior enamel, figured that should be good for the interior of a boat that lives on a fresh water lake. 

To finish the veneer I bought a nice walnut stain and brush on poly. I did three coats of each, sanding with 200 grit lightly between each coat and I am pretty pleased with the outcome. I also put a coat of CPES over it all just for extra measure. If I were to do this again, I would probably use West epoxy mixed with 207 hardener over the wood, then epoxied the veneer on, and then painted and stained with either epoxy with 207 over the stain or polyurethane after I got the color I wanted. Not sure if ether is better or not as there is minimal UV exposure in the boat.

I used a small electric heater to help with poly curing time as this was April and the tempos were a bit chilly at times. 

CPES Curing, how exciting....

Paint drying, more excitement.....

Veneer laminated.

Veneer Finished.

The biggest issue on this part of the project was doing about 30 minutes of work and then having to wait for things to cure or dry. Next step on this little project is cutting the new bulkheads and getting them installed.